Malaysia's Central Bank has announced a one point eight per cent fall in the country's gross domestic product.

It's the first decline in thirteen years andis being attributed to the impact of adjustment measures following the EastAsian economic crisis.

The assistant head of the bank Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz told a news conference that Malaysia's economic growth was not expected to pick up significantly during the next three months but it was too early to say whether there would a second consecutive quarter of negative growth which would indicate a recession.